Two Germans Seized as Leaders of Spies

BALTIMORE, SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 7.
TWO GERMANS SEIZED AS LEADERS OF SPIES

Former Consul in Mexico City A Supposed Paymaster Arrested
At New York.

BOTH HELD AS ALIEN ENEMIES
Secret Service Men Put on Trail By Von Papen Papers—Third Suspect Taken Into Custody in Brooklyn.

New York, July 6.—Agents for the Department of Justice this afternoon arrested two Germans, one reputed to be a paymaster for the German spy system in this country and the other alleged to have been formerly associated with Capt. Franz von Papen, at one time military attache at the German Embassy in Washington.
The prisoners were removed to the Ellis Island immigration station. They are accused of being aliens enemy to the United States. They are described as Carl Heynen, a German organizer and an authority on Mexican affairs, and F. A. Burgemister. The latter is alleged to be a spy paymaster.Heynen, once German Consul at Mexico City and prior to that connected with the Hamburg-American line, was mentioned in connection with munition contracts alluded to in correspondence seized by the British in Von Papen's effects at Falmouth while the former attache was returning to Germany. This correspondence indicated Heynen's connection with the Bridgeport (Conn.) Projectile Company as treasurer.Washington Ordered Arrests.The Federal agents who made the arrests said they had acted under orders of the authorities in Washington. The men were taken into custody in offices in the Hamburg-American Line building once occupied by Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, formerly commercial attache of the German Embassy in Washington and representative of the Deutsch Bank of Berlin.
When the war began, Burgemeister turned up as Dr. Albert's private secretary and confidential man, having been previously employed in the foreign exchange department of a bank in this city. Federal agents alluded to Burgemeister today as the “boss paymaster of the German spy system in this country.”Federal authorities look on Heynen as an organizer of no mean ability. He is credited with having formed under direction of Von Papen and Dr. Albert the Bridgeport Projectile Company, which, it is alleged to have been shown through papers seized from Von Papen by the British when he arrived at Falmouth January 5, 1916, was run in the interests of Germany. Correspondence of Dr. Albert also disclosed, it was said, that the scheme was to make contracts with munitions manufacturers for a certain period and then pay the forfeit for default. The contracts were so drawn that the manufacturing plants could not undertake any other work during the period specified in the contracts. Arrest Made in Brooklyn.A man said to be the first arrested and arraigned under the Federal Espionage law, enacted by Congress last month, was held by a United States commissioner in Brooklyn today on $5,000 bail for further hearing investigation by agents of the Department of Justice.
The prisoner said he was Bach, a German machinist, 28 years old. He was arrested on Independence Day by a National Guard lieutenant stationed in the vicinity of a plant where submarine chasers are being built.Bundle of Letters Seized.Federal authorities investigating suspected methods of communication between the United States and Germany announced here the seizure of a bundle of letters including communications which, arriving from the Central Powers, apparently were intended to reach Alexander von Nuber, formerly Austrian Consul-General in New York. Von Nuber left here after the Government investigated charges that he shipped reservists to Austria under fraudulent passports in 1915.
How the letters now confiscated were to reach Von Nuber has not been disclosed, nor was his present whereabouts announced. The letters were brought here by sailors on a Scandinavian steamship and delivered to a saloonkeeper in Hoboken. The plan, according to the investigators was for the mail to be readdressed here, so that it would appear to be correspondence from the United States.
The sailors admitted they were paid to smuggle mail past the British censors and promised to testify for the Government if needed. Some of the letters were addressed to persons in New Zealand, Australia and India.May Tighten Spy Rules.Washington, July 6.—Although officials here take little stock in the more sensational spy rumors that have followed the submarine attack on the American expeditionary force, it is not unlikely that the agitation may result in more stringent espionage regulations, particularly with regard to outgoing mails and cables.
No general realignment of the spy detection machinery of the Government is contemplated, it was said today, because officials consider that results of the present system have demonstrated its efficiency. It has been declared authoritatively that startling revelations of what already has been accomplished might be made if it were considered in the public interest.
The Government realizes that such a course probably would serve no good purpose and might generate a spy hysteria of dangerous proportions, like the scares which resulted in injustice to innocent persons in several European countries earlier in the war. It also would warn the spies themselves of the methods employed by the American investigating agents.
That an efficient German spy system is operating in this country is considered by high officials as one of the inevitable circumstances of the war. The large foreign population undoubtedly makes espionage easier than in most countries, since the spies can scatter among the foreign colonies and be completely lost to sight.Against Mail Censorship.Nevertheless, many officials believe there should be a closer Government control of outgoing cables, and legislation to that end may be asked. It is possible also that power will be sought to censor outgoing mails. Whether this would cover mails to all countries or simply to those not now covered by the British mail censorship is uncertain.Postmaster-General Burleson said today that he was opposed to any mail censorship to neutral countries on the ground that it is not necessary.
Communication to Spain will probably be first investigated by this Government, as messages sent there by way of Cuba do not in any way come under British surveillance. The Government knows that there are many wireless plants in Spain, and the Germans there undoubtedly are communicating directly with Berlin.